Reports, proud muckraking, photos, videos and musings from the veteran LGBT and AIDS human rights advocate Michael Petrelis. Based in San Francisco since 1995.
Contact: MPetrelis_at_AOL_dot_com.
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Friday, February 20, 2015

Castro Newsrack Clutter: Consolidation or Reinstallation?

The Department of Public Works' Newsrack Advisory Committee met at City Hall on Tuesday evening to hear testimony about pedmounts in the Castro business district. Among those speaking during public comment were Andrea Aiello of the Castro Benefit District, Daniel Bergerac of the Castro Merchants, Mike Yamashita of the Bay Area Reporter, and yours truly taping some of the meeting.

Here's Aiello's comment regarding the outcome:

"The committee decided they needed to do a walk through the neighborhood to examine each spot and assess ADA issues and other path of travel and sight line issues. Daniel and I asked Cynthia Hoe [DPW's program director for pedmounts] to include us in that walking tour of the news racks."

Bergerac shared this message the day after the hearing:

"I spoke to Steve Porter at Harvey’s, he is writing a letter opposing replacement the pedmount on the Castro Street side of the restaurant. This will cancel his plans of offering outside dinning, as there will not be enough space. After 9 months of construction, he was counting on the revenue these tables would generate to help make back his numbers. "We need to continue to remind the committee, of the Twin Peaks being a historic landmark. That preserving and providing visitors of a clear view of the bar is very important, especially for photo opportunities in front of the historic OPEN windows." I'm pleased the committee finally held a meeting at a convenient hour to consider the problems of too many pedmounts in the Castro and the high number of empty slots. The Castro business district has enough street furniture cluttering the sidewalks and consolidating existing pedmounts should be an option.
My hope is that other ordinary citizens and residents of the Castro support keeping as much public sidewalk space as possible for the public, and limit the imposition of corporate street clutter (pedmounts are advertising space), on the streets of San Francisco.
Check out the video of some of the public comments made on Tuesday.